What is online trolling? Hate Speech?
One thing that I learned about was that it is difficult to stop trolling when we don’t even know what it is. The article “Online trolling used to be funny, but now the term refers to something far more sinister” talks about how there are differences in the way people define internet trolling. With so many different definitions of internet trolling, how can we stop it or limit it? People see it differently and it is hard to stop something if it is not clearly defined. Just like how the article “The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online” said that there are different ways to define speech like the difference between hate speech and free speech. People could be trolling but say that they weren’t based on their own definition of online trolling. We need a universal definition so we can take action and there can be consequences. Hate speech can have negative consequences. For example, students seeing hate speech could lead them to commit suicide so it is important to address hate speech but also in a way that does not take away the right to freedom of speech. We could ignore hate speech and online trolling but it does impact mental health. How can we not infringe on freedom of speech and also keep people safe especially with their mental health? Sometimes I do think we give certain people too much power and relevance in our lives. Like Trump would tweet crazy stuff all the time and it affected some people in a really negative way. I hated what he said especially as a Hispanic woman but I just ignored it for my mental health (some people cannot do that which is understandable) and I did not let it get to me. Not everyone can ignore things like that because it affects them but also why do we let people like Trump and others have power over our lives? If we did not give Trump the attention he clearly wanted and got every time he tweeted something stupid maybe he would have given up… Like the article “The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online” stated: “The individual’s voice has a much higher perceived value than it has in the past. As a result, there are more people who will complain online in an attempt to get attention, sympathy, or retribution” (Rainie et. al, 2017). Just because you can tweet something does not mean we have to listen or give you attention that you want. We can choose what and who we give relevance to.
Another thing I learned about was the censorship taking place on the internet. The article “The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online” says that “Technology will mediate who and what we see online more and more, so that we are drawn more toward communities with similar interests than those who are dissimilar” (Rainie et. al, 2017). I do not want social media platforms telling me what I can and cannot see or post. I do not want to be only surrounded by people who are like me because I will not learn from another perspective or grow as a human like that. The real world does not filter people out like that. I see it now that some online platforms block certain people/organizations and take them off their apps/sites. I have heard some conservatives say that their sites or profiles are being removed from social media sites. I find this incredibly dangerous. We cannot silence people just because we disagree with them. Dictators do that. We live in a democracy well I thought we did. I do not agree with conservatives most of the time but they should be allowed to exist in social media platforms just like how liberal people are allowed to be a major influence in social media outlets. I hear and see that some people can be racist online which should be considered hate speech. But if we start banning everyone because we hate what they said, we are losing freedom of speech. It is difficult because it is a hard balance between freedom of speech and writing things that are hateful or do nothing but promote hate online and in real life. Democracy is having people who agree and disagree without silencing the other. We can hate what people say but if it is not hate speech it should be allowed to be said. Who defines hate speech because everyone thinks it is something different.
I have experienced online hostile communication. I was on YouTube and I commented on a football game video. I don’t remember what I commented but then a whole bunch of comments were made in response to my comment. A lot of them were rude and crazy. People are crazy! People commented stuff saying “You’re a woman, what do you know about football?” They saw my name and started attacking me for being a woman who liked football. It had nothing to do with my comment about football. It was weird because I regretted saying anything but there were creeps too. One person said that they were surprised a girl knew anything about football. I saw one comment call me a “Stupid bitch.” It was demeaning and I felt like I was attacked because I was a woman commenting in a comment section and video that was dominated by men. I recommend not commenting on anything. I don’t comment on YouTube videos anymore. The funny thing is I only did it that one time and never did it again. Also, do not try to respond to the trolls. Do not give power to the trolls. Ignore their comments and do not waste time responding to the haters. Do not give them a chance to troll you so do not post comments.
I use Facebook once in a while now so I researched how Facebook was addressing misinformation because that’s a big issue for Facebook. I learned from Facebook’s own website article called “Working to Stop Misinformation and False News” that they are fighting back against fake news by “disrupting economic incentives because most false news is financially motivated, building new products to curb the spread of false news, and helping people make more informed decisions when they encounter false news” (Facebook for Media). I found this article and my other article by googling “How is Facebook battling misinformation?” They are aware of their fake news and misinformation problem and are trying to educate the public that uses their app/website. I read that they are making it hard for people who want to post fake news and misinformation from buying ads to post on Facebook. They are enforcing their policies better now. Facebook is also updating their detection of Facebook fake profiles so it is more difficult to scam people. Facebook is also making it easier to report fake news so they can look at it more deeply.
In April of 2019, Facebook recently updated its app/website to battle misinformation, hate speech, and propaganda. The article “Facebook Is Changing News Feed (Again) to Stop Fake News” stated that “Click-Gap, which Facebook is launching globally today, is the company’s attempt to limit the spread of websites that are disproportionately popular on Facebook compared with the rest of the web. If Facebook finds that a ton of links to a certain website are appearing on Facebook, but few websites on the broader web are linking to that site, Facebook will use that signal, among others, to limit the website’s reach” (Dreyfuss & Lapowsky, 2019). This would help the news feed algorithm in Facebook pick where to rank a post. Facebook is trying to stop misinformation from spreading on Facebook. They came up with Click-Gap so at least they are trying even if it is not perfect. They are putting resources into combating misinformation and it seems to be a top priority for them because of the 2016 election. The 2016 election gave Facebook a bad reputation and a lot of people left Facebook because of it. Maybe Facebook is only doing it because it feels pressured to do it from the public. Progress is Progress.
Source 1: “Working to Stop Misinformation and False News”
Source 2: “Facebook Is Changing News Feed (Again) to Stop Fake News”
